When Amy announced that this week’s Lens-Artist Challenge is “Earth Story” I began selecting some favorite photos of landscapes from different corners of our earth that I have visited. It was fun looking through my files but I didn’t experience the earth’s excitement in my collection and was having trouble telling the earth’s story with them. A couple of weeks ago I took our visiting-from-Michigan friend, Carolyn, to the botanical garden and several times she talked about getting ready for planting when she returned to Michigan. I realized that my brain is wired to experience the excitement of spring in the northern half of the northern hemisphere, when what appears to be a dead earth comes to life with green sprouts. It is the time when home gardeners are looking at catalogs, referring back to last year’s notes, planting seeds in hot boxes, and thinking about how many plants they are going to purchase at the garden center.

The produce growing season in southern Florida is winter and early spring so I have had the fun of going to local farmers’ markets to purchase fresh produce. They also have produce growing at several places in the Naples Botanical Garden that is used in the kitchen of the Fogg Cafe and given to local food banks. They aren’t big gardens but they are beautiful to view. Did you notice that they are cultivating dandelions? I missed the bloom but the tag says it is pink.

I feel your excitement, northern growers, and look forward to going north to find the wildflowers of spring for a future post. The earth’s story includes growth and regrowth – and providing nourishment for it’s animal and insect population. We need to take good care of her so she can continue to do her work.